


A New Case

by allysonandrews1982 (FonzFan82)



Series: Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Family, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-16 17:38:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 13,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1356052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FonzFan82/pseuds/allysonandrews1982
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deputy Sheriff Andrea Webber comes to Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation for some help. Her sister, Virginia Webber, a romance writer, was murdered so many years ago and this is one case the police couldn't solve for themselves. Would Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation be able to close this cold case?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

One late Wednesday afternoon, Kylie Jones – Blake, Ryan Anderson, Frank Rogers, Danny Blake, Jessica Anderson, and Gloria Rogers were sitting in Kylie’s law firm. They were listening to a woman tell her story. At least the gang had a job to do. Their last case was about Danny’s mother, Daphne. He’d calmed down now since it was now about four months since his mother’s murder.

Their client was a woman who came here to Los Angeles from Utah. The woman was here in Los Angeles by airplane. She was here in Los Angeles for a week for a conference. Her badge told the gang she was a deputy sheriff. The gang turned out to like their new client right away.

The gang silently asked one another why would a woman police officer want to be involved with a group of six detectives? Ryan decided to speak up.

“If you’re a police officer, why did you come to this law firm?”

“I know it does seem a bit odd, but my department left this case unsolved. This is why I came to you.”

Andrea didn’t seem to pay any attention to the silent glances between the six friends. After she would leave this firm, she was going to check into Holiday Inn. The conference didn’t start until a quarter till eight the next morning. Right now it was only five – twenty. Plenty of time for Andrea to take up some of her time with the gang.

“Were you and your sister identical or not?” Kylie asked.

She had this feeling the others were thinking the same question she was.

“Yes, Virginia and I were identical twins. I was the oldest by ten minutes.”

The name Virginia Webber did sound familiar to the gang.

“Was Virginia at home or on a tour when this happened?” Frank asked.

“She recently returned back here to Utah from a book tour. She wanted to start a new novel.”

Kylie’s turn to ask a question.

“Was your sister alone when she came back to Utah from her book tour?”

“My department and I were told she was riding in a cab to her house.”

“Was Virginia in the taxi alone with the driver?” Danny questioned.

“That’s where I can’t answer. That was a missed detail,” Andrea answered.

“Wow. A cold case on a well – known romance writer,” Ryan said once Andrea left the office.

“We solved a case on Andy, don’t forget,” Gloria reminded him.

“I remember that, Gloria. And Danny’s mother was unexpected,” Frank replied as the five friends watched Kylie turn off her computer and shut the light off and lock her office. 

Patsy Logan, Kylie’s secretary, had already left home for the evening about fifteen minutes ago.

“Well, gang, like Dad used to say, ‘Well, gang, looks like we have another mystery on our hands,’” Kylie said, impersonating her father, Fred Jones, who was the original leader of Mystery Inc.

The group nodded in agreement. The gang separated and went their own ways.


	2. Chapter 2

After she left Kylie's law firm, Andrea didn't plan on keeping her fingers crossed about this famous detective group trying to solve her sister's unsolved murder. Since the sheriff here in Utah couldn't find any new evidence on Virginia's murder, he suggested to Andrea to ask a good lawyer she could talk to about this, and she did.

She'd been in the very same department ever since she graduated from high school. She ended up having her dream come true and her famous (now deceased) father, Donny Osmond, didn't seem to like this cop thing she always wanted was a good idea, but she did end up graduating from the police academy. Ever since she and Virginia were fifteen, Virginia had already gotten into writing romance novels.

Unlike most writers today, Virginia never really was interested in having the same characters having a comeback to have a series of their own. Like the rest of the Osmonds, her sister's books always hit #1 New York Times Bestseller list. She herself had a dream of becoming a cop just like Deputy Barney Fife. Like Barney, she carried a pistol, but not one bullet.

Andrea had this feeling Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation would solve this case. Her question: How would they find the missing evidence? She was anxious to find the answer out for herself to see how these detectives would close this unsolved mystery.

After unlocking her car door, Andrea did notice the wind was starting to pick up with the weather by rain. It was still windy fifteen minutes later, but the rain did not decide to get very heavy just yet. As she climbed into the driver's seat and slammed the car door, she bought her cell phone out.

Sheriff Jackson answered.

"Hi, Sheriff," Andrea greeted her boss.

"Hello, Andrea. So how did it go? Who did you go to?" Jackson asked.

"Do you know Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation?" Andrea asked.

"Just heard of their reputation is all. Why do you bother asking?"

"Because I happen to think they would be good for the job," she answered.

"If they aren't, we'll have to find a nosy private detective. And don't you screw this up."

After that, Jackson disconnected before Andrea could say a word. Once she put the cell phone away, she headed straight for the Holiday Inn. The Holiday Inn was only about four or five blocks away from Kylie's law firm, Andrea noticed. There was no keeping your fingers crossed on this unsolved murder about her sister. She hoped Sheriff Jackson wouldn't need to find a private detective. She wanted to give this group a chance before her boss could do anything about it.

Once she parked into the hotel's parking lot, Andrea left the driver's door open. It wouldn't take too long to check in and find a room during her stay here in Los Angeles. There was a clerk or two behind the desk. One of them , a woman in her late thirties, was on the telephone, typing at the computer since a customer had recently called for a reservation. Andrea didn't get a close look at the woman's name, but the woman's hair was light – brown with a ponytail in the back, hair neatly washed, her fingernails recently had a manicure, and she also wore glasses. Andrea didn't want to bother poking her nose into some stranger's personal life like this, even though she was a cop. Here in Los Angeles nobody knew who she was but she was mostly in Utah most of the time.

The older person behind the desk was a man. Andrea didn't bother paying attention to their fingers to see if they were married. Something she didn't care too much like most girls did, but like lots of girls, she was into gossip and enjoyed it. The man was wearing matching clothes as the woman, but he looked like he recently had a birthday. She guessed he was probably fifty or less in age. He also wore glasses, but he had light – red hair, light blue eyes. Andrea did notice one thing about him – hearing aids. He never really answered the telephone at the hotel because he'd been too deaf enough to handle that one small job.

Andrea didn't understand why a person at fifty years old would be wearing hearing aids if he was deaf. She didn't know a thing in sign language and that included the alphabet. Andrea started speaking to him. He looked at her, his eyes telling her he didn't hear a thing she said.

"I'm sorry, Brandon," Andrea said, noticing his nametag told her his name was Brandon.

He signed something to her: 'Do you have a reservation?' Andrea didn't seem to understand any of the signs but all she could do was nod her head to let him know she made a reservation not too long ago. That's when the woman, whose name was Rachel, put the phone back down. She watched Brandon sign away to Andrea.

"I'm sorry, Officer, he's deaf."

"I noticed, but I wasn't sure if he could hear me because of the hearing aids."

"The hearing aids really don't seem to help him much. He's been deaf his entire life," Rachel explained.

"Oh."

"May I have your name?" Rachel asked her, signing for Brandon at the same time.

He was happy to know what his fellow co – worker was letting him in the conversation.

"Andrea Webber."

Again, the fingers went away to Brandon. She watched as he punched in her name.

"For how many nights?" Rachel asked, signing away for Brandon.

"A couple of weeks would be good. I'm here on an investigation," Andrea said to the two.

As soon as Andrea answered the question, she, Brandon and Rachel turned to see a family of five walk in and joined her at the desk. Even this family didn't know Brandon was deaf.

Andrea figured she'd have to find something to do while here: take a sign language class so she could learn what Brandon said. She'd ask about that later but now the customers started piling up.

"Okay, Officer, here's your key. You'll be in 357," Rachel said and signed at the same time.

Brandon handed her a key and signed, 'Enjoy your stay.'

"What did he say?" Andrea asked.

"He said he hoped you will enjoy your stay with us."

"Tell him thank you," Andrea said and walked back to the open car.


	3. Chapter 3

While Andrea was walking out of the exit door of Holiday Inn, the gang waere busy doing research on Virginia’s unsolved death. They watched as Gloria punched in Virginia’s name. Gloria had received tons of results. 

“Where should we begin?” Frank asked his sister.

“You’ll see,” Gloria told him.

Gloria pulled up one website and they took a look at the information. 

“Is this any of it we need to solve this mystery?” Ryan asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Gloria answered.

Then she printed the article out and logged out of the website. As Gloria went through the results on the famous romance writer, Frank left to find something to eat.

“Good thing Frank isn’t like Dad. Dad would eat just about everything in sight,” Gloria said as everyone nodded in agreement.

“True that,” Kylie said, “while my father was busy setting up traps.”

Again the friends agreed.

After Gloria made the remark about Shaggy, the gang watched as she typed Virginia Webber. She received tons of hits. The gang watched as she clicked on a website.

“No wonder these machines cooperate for you, Gloria,” Danny said.

She didn’t say anything just quite yet. She read the article aloud to her friends.

“Sheriff Jackson, the sheriff of Utah, started working on a new mystery. This case is a tough one just like any other case. This time the murder was on a well – known romance writer, Virginia Webber. Jackson’s deputy, Andrea Webber, is the deceased’s relative.

“The two girls were born twins,” the article went on. The two girls were raised in an orphanage out in Milwaukee. They didn’t find anybody who would want the twin girls to be a part of their family. The girls were seven years old when somebody came along and adopted them.

Their adoptive family was a famous rock and roll family from the 1970s, the Osmonds. Nobody knows until today how or why a famous group like the Osmonda would take in two orphans. The Osmonds are members of the Latter – Day Saints Church out here in Utah. The girls weren’t that religious like the Osmonds were, but they ended up going anyway.

“The girls attended school like any other child and teenager would, but they had different interests for careers when they reached adulthood. Andrea, who always dreamed of being a cop, was able to get through college. After that, she enrolled in the Police Academy and was able to pass that.

“When the two sisters were adopted into the Osmond family, nobody could figure out anything about their past. Nobody knew how many minutes the girls were apart when they were born. Somehow nobody in the Osmond family knew what day of what month Andrea and her sister were born.

“The deceased, romance writer, had dreamed of being a writer, but never did think of publishing her works until Harper Collins, a publishing company went directly to her. Virginia accepted right away. Virginia was fifteen years old when her first story was published.”

Gloria stopped reading since the article left a cliffhanger for the gang.

“I wonder why the article stopped there,” Jessica said, bending over Gloria’s shoulder for a closer look.

“Good question. Maybe we’ll look for more of it on those results the computer gave us,” Gloria said.

Kylie agreed.

“Boy, do I hate cliffhangers,” Kylie said as Gloria printed out the article. 

Everyone else agreed.

“Why are you printing the cliffhanger for?” Danny asked.

“Just for backup if we need to interview anyone. Maybe we could get Harper Collins on the telephone or in person,” Gloria suggested.

“Great idea,” Frank told his sister.

After the printer finished spitting out a few pages, Gloria watched as Jessica bent down to collect the information.

“I could’ve done that,” Gloria told her.

“I know,” Jessica replied.

The gang watched Gloria log off the website.

Whenever the gang looked up information such as this, Gloria never bothered making up accounts and passwords since she was only a visitor. The gang hardly visited websites when they were not working on cases, so they didn’t use their e – mails much like some people did. The only time they would go on the Internet, it was mostly information they were searching for on a certain case like this one. They only used facebook for their clues and new information on mysteries. The gang looked at one another, thinking this would be an interesting and unsolved murder to share on facebook. After the article was printed out, Gloria signed off for time being. They had plenty of time to look for more details on this latest mystery.


	4. Chapter 4

“Where should we began to search for clues?” Frank asked.

Just like his friends, he was ready to start working on this mystery.

“I’d suggest we split up and see what we can find,” Kylie said.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Gloria agreed.

Whenever the six friends separated to find clues, everyone would go with their family. Since Kylie and Danny didn’t have brothers or sisters, they ended up searching for clues with each other.

Kylie used to have a younger brother who was eleven years younger than herself, but he wasn’t ever around the six frineds. He’d been murdered for a few years now, which did explain why Kylie had nobody, except for Danny. After everyone separated, Gloria and Frank walked over to the nearest computer. Gloria wanted to go online and see what else they could find about Virginia.

Not many members of Mystery Inc. had much time to read since they were on a mystery most of the time.

“I have an idea,” Frank said.

“What?” Gloria asked.

“Since we already found out some info on Virginia, what do you think of contacting some other family members or friends and see what we can pick up?” he asked.

“I think that’s a good idea, Frank. I would also like to see what other info the gang will come up with.”

“Agreed,” Frank told his sister.

“i figured that,” she replied.

Frank pulled an exta chair and sat next to Gloria on the computer. He watched as she once again typed up Virginia Webber on the computer.

“What other info are we looking into now?” Frank asked.

“I would like to see what other kind of information we can find on the cliffhanger article I printed out,” Gloria answered.

“Good idea.”

He asked his sister what he could do to help out.

“Why don’t you go on another computer and look up all of the books she’s written?” 

“Good thinking, Sis.”

So brother and sister worked for over a few hours. Frank had some luck, but it looked like Gloria had done most of the work. While searching the Internet, Frank came across the last book that was written by Virginia, but it wasn’t published since it was still in progress, but those who did find the manuscript decided to share what she had written before her murder.

While browsing the website, he decided to print out her latest story so his friends could see what he picked up. He stood up to print Virginia’s unfinished story. While waiting, Frank gave a few stretches. Sitting across him was his sister. Gloria looked like she was writing some of the information out as well. While waiting for the printer to finish, he walked over to Gloria to see what she’d found.

“Anymore luck, Sis?” Frank asked as he heard the printer finish his request.

“Same. I see you printed out some info.”

“You better believe it. I’m going to text the others and see if they’re ready to regroup.”

“I think I’m done for now myself. Go ahead and text the others while I print out what I found out.”

“Okay,” Frank said as he walked back to the computer.

Before grabbing Virginia’s unpublished romance, he grabbed for his iPhone from his pocket. The sound was still on mute, but he was still able to send text messages. He first sent a message over to Danny. For now he had no thoughts on where the rest of his friends where. He got an answer from Danny. He told Frank he and Kylie were ready, but wasn’t too sure about Ryan and Jessica.

Frank grabbed the fershly new papers from the printer, and once afain headed to Gloria’s computer.

“Sis, do you want me to collect your information out as well?” he asked, about to bend down on his left knee.

“Sure. Are the others ready?” Gloria asked.

She was doing the same thing he was doing – doing a few stretches.

“Danny said he and Kylie are ready, but he’d text Jess and Ryan for me.”

“Okay. While we’re waiting, I’m going to use the ladies’ room.”

“Okay. I’ll stay here, then.”

When he did say that, she already disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

So the six friends met at the parking lot where the Mystery Machine waited for the gang.

“Did anyone find any clues at all on Virginia?” Kylie asked as she watched as most of her friends shook their heads, telling her they had no such luck.

“I think Gloria and I did find something,” Frank told the gang.

“At least there’s something,” Kylie said as she gave out a sigh.

“Did you and Danny find anything?” Gloria asked.

“Not a one,” Danny answered before Kylie could say a word.

“No wonder we’re having much luck on this interesting mystery. I sure don’t want to give up on this mystery like the police did.”

“I think you’re right, Jess,” Ryan replied.

“Tell us what you found,” Kylie said.

“I did print this out. I thought you might be pretty interested in seeing this,” Frank said.

“Tell us already,” Ryan said impatiently.

“Hold your horses, Ryan. I found her unpubished book.”

“Wow. How did you do that?” Jessica asked.

“Just by typing Virginia's name and browse websites,” Frank answered.

“Good work, Frank,” Kylie complimented.

“Did this unpublished story have everything she wrote before the murder?” Danny asked.

“I didn’t see that, but my guess would probably be a yes,” Frank answered.

“Maybe we can go through her novel,” Jessica said.

“Isn’t that why I printed this out?” Frank asked.

“I think so maybe we can show this to Deputy Webber and see if she recognizes the manuscript,” Jessica said.

“My thought exactly, Jess,” Kylie said.

“That’s what I thought, Kylie. Do we need to invite Deputy Webber and see what she thought of her twin’s unpublished novel?” Jessica asked.

“Good idea, but I wish I’d thought of that first,” Kylie agreed.

Everyone watched as Jessica grabbed out her cell phone from her shirt’s pocket.

“Is that outfit new?” Gloria asked.

“I bought it almost a week ago before we knew about this case,” Jessica said.

“It does look good on you, Jess,” Kylie agreed.

The others agreed. Jessica wore a light purple shirt with polka dot stripes, a light purple belt, light purple jeans, light purple socks and shoes. She had a purple ponytail as well.

“You do look good in purple for sure, Sis,” Ryan replied.

“Why, thank you, Ryan,” Jessica said.

She dialed the cell phone number that Andrea had given them.

“Hi, Deputy,” Jessica said when Andrea answered on the second ring.

“Hello, Jessica,” Andrea returned.

“We have been talking, Deputy. We did find a clue we think you would be interested in checking out. When will you be available?” Jessica asked.

“Would lunchtime work?” Andrea asked.

“Sounds great. Where and what time would work for you?” Jessica asked.

“Well, how about noon at Dairy Queen?”

“Sounds great, Deputy. See you then,” Jessica said and both women hung up.

“Noon at Dairy Queen would work out just fine,” Kylie told their friend.

“I know,” Jessica replied.


	6. Chapter 6

That night once Andrea covered herself into bed, she opened the manuscript Frank had printed out from the public library computer. It wasn’t very long when she began to go through it. It was only about ten to fifteen pages. The manuscript wasn’t completed like she was told, but did have little time to read them. At least this would be a good time to do so.

It didn’t take Andrea very long to go through of what her sister’s idea was for the unpublished novel. It took her about eleven minutes to go through the manuscript. She had found this story very entertaining. She started to feel sad because Virginia wasn’t alive to hear what she thought of the story.

Andrea knew for sure that Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation hadn’t found the right time to go through her sister’s manuscript, and it made her wonder if they planned on going through it. Andrea liked the thought of Danny, Frank, and Ryan on skipping to read the unpublished story her sister got into when her sister’s case happened. The guys probably wouldn’t be interested since Virginia’s stories involved romance.

She’d planned on getting together with the gang sometime tomorrow and tell them she had a chance to go through the entire manuscript and what she thought of the story. She immediately grabbed the cell phone and called Sheriff Jackson back home in Utah to bring him up – to – date on what the gang had found.

She listened as the telephone at Sheriff Jackson’s house ring about four times before somebody answered the phone. His wife answered. Andrea could tell his wife was breathing heavily and thought she just came back home from the gym.

“Hi, Ruth. Is the sheriff around or is he still at the station?” Andrea asked.

“Hello, Andrea. He’s here, but is just stepping out of the shower. Let me go check and see if he'd like to take your call now.”

“Okay. I’ll hold,” Andrea replied.

Ruth walked into the master bedroom and knocked. He was buttoning his shirt when he opened the door.

“Honey, Andrea is on the telephone. Are you willing to take her call or do you want me to tell her you’d call back?” Ruth asked.

“I can talk with her now. Thank you for telling me I had a call,” he said, quickly giving his wife a kiss before he picked up the receiver.

“Hi, Andrea,” Sheriff Jackson greeted her. 

“Hi, Sheriff. I thought I’d bring you up – to – date on Virginia,” she told him.

“What’s the update? You know I will call from my phone whenever the 2nd Generation of Mystery Inc. have found out about her,” Andrea said.

“Yes, we did agree on that. Sorry, Andrea. Now tell me the latest they had found. Is it something we could have missed?” Sheriff Jackson asked.

“I would like to think so, Sheriff. Get ready for this one: Frank Rogers found this at the public library on its computer. He found a copy of Virginia’s unpublished novel.”

“That is interesting, Andrea. I think we never came across that one. Did you get a chance to go through it?” he asked.

“I just finished doing that. I wanted to give you an update before telling them my thoughts on her story. That’s what I’m going to do after this.”

“Thank you for telling me this, Andrea. Do you want me to read the manuscript?” he asked.

“No, Sheriff. My sister’s stories are all about romance, and I think you probably wouldn’t like it anyway. Sorry to turn you down like this,” Andrea told him.

“That’s all right, Sheriff. I just happen to think I can’t picture men like you going through a romance novel,” she told him.

“I guess you’re right. Please call again when they find more info,” he told her.

“I plan to do that. I’ll call again,” she said and both officers hung up.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, the gang decided to share a post to their facebook page and thought it was a good idea to post Virginia’s unpublished novel. They thought they’d preview it bit by bit and see if fans would recognize the content or not. It’s worth a shot, Kylie thought to herself. Before she could mention this idea, Gloria bet her to it.

“I have an idea,” Gloria said a minute later.

“What’s that?” Frank asked.

“Why don’t we share Virginia’s unpublished novel on our facebook page?”

“I was thinking the same thing, Gloria,” Kylie told their friend.

“You were? Why didn’t you say so?” Ryan asked her.

“Because Gloria brought it up before I could,” Kylie answered.

So they logged into their page and tried to upload the manuscript. 

“Shoot,” Gloria said under her breath.

“What?” Jessica asked.

“The site wouldn’t let me share Virginia’s unfinished manuscript,” Gloria answered.

“I do have a suggestion,” Danny spoke up a minute or so later.

“What’s that?” Frank asked, looking in his direction.

“Why don’t we share half of it now and when we go and update later we can do more,” Danny suggested.

“You mean like bits and pieces?” Kylie asked.

“Bingo,” Danny told her.

“I thought I was right,” Kylie said.

“You were,” Jessica told her.

“Oh,” Ryan said.

“Thought so,” Kylie replied.

So for now the gang thought it made sense to share the first chapter and see what their fans thought of the unpublished manuscript.

“I do have a question for Deputy Webber,” Gloria said.

“What’s that?” Jessica asked.

“I was planning on asking if there was a title for the story,” Gloria wondered.

“I never thought of that one,” Frank said.

“Me either,” everyone said at the same time.

So everyone watched as Gloria uploaded the first chapter of the unpublished novel to facebook. She thought it made sense to do a bit at a time so it wouldn’t bore the fans if they shared the entire manuscript. They thought it made sense to share a bit at a time, but if people found the preview a bit boring, they could stop reading it. Here’s what the beginning of the preview Gloria posted:

A blonde young man in his thirties, slender, light – brown eyes, tatto on his right arm, wore light – green pants with zipper added to it and light – green socks, black tennis shoes and forest green shirt. He just felt like wearing green for today, but it wasn’t his favorite color, but something he pulled out of the closet to get dressed this morning. He headed off to work around eight – forty – five. Like several people, he worked a 9 – 5 shift.

What Albert Jackson didn’t know was that a cute, light – brown haired girl in her twenties was going to show up at his company before twelve. He had no idea what hit him when she first arrived at twleve that afternoon. He was getting ready to leave for his fifteen – minute lunch break when she walked in. He saw how cute and pretty she was. He could tell she looked interested in him.

This was all of the first chapter the gang thought but they didn’t feel like sharing the entire first chapter but thought two paragraphs would be good to start off with. After Gloria shared the text, the gang watched her log off facebook. 

“Let’s see what happens until the next time we log back in,” Kylie said.

“I’d love to see that too,” Frank agreed with her.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, at nine – thirty that Wednesday morning, Kylie decided to call Andrea and bring her up – to – date. The rest of the gang were at their own jobs, so they would have to hear about Kylie’s conversation with Deputy Webber. They did know Kylie was planning on putting a call in with Andrea, but they were interested in hearing what Andrea had to say.

“This Deputy Webber?” Kylie asked once Andrea picked up her cell phone.

“Yes. May I ask who’s calling?” Andrea asked.

“Kylie Jones – Blake from Mystery Inc.,” she said.

“Oh, hello, Kylie. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you,” Andrea said.

“I know, but we wanted to talk with you,” Kylie said.

“You mean about Virginia?” Andrea asked.

“Yes.”

“Go ahead,” Andrea told her.

“Ms. Rogers did have a question, but I’ll let her ask you herself,” Kylie said, remembering what Gloria mentioned yesterday.

“What did she want to ask me?”

“You’ll find out. Our friend, Frank, who's her brother, was the one who found Virginia’s unfinished manuscript on a website. He decided to print it out to share,” Kylie said.

“How in the world did he find it?” Andrea asked, who was now interested into what Kylie was saying.

“I’m not sure. He didn’t really tell us, but at least we think it’s a clue to her murder,” Kylie told Andrea.

“My department never thought of finding a manuscript like hers. I guess that’s something new in these past years,” Andrea said.

“Really? Why didn't your boss think of that?” Kylie asked.

“I guess we were busy thinking on different sides of her murder that we didn’t even think of looking into that area,” Andrea answered.

“Oh,” was all Kylie could think of to say.

“Are there anymore questions you want to ask me?” Andrea asked.

“Yes there are,” Kylie answered.

“Ask away.”

“Was writing a dream of your sister’s before she even thought about being published?”

“Not really. She didn’t even think to bother being a famous writer. Her earlier works are also published with millions of copies in about forty or so languages. They seem to like her most in Britian,” Andrea said.

“Wow. Is United States another popular country for her audience?” Kylie asked.

“Yes, it is. She was pretty well – known here in the States when her first book came out. When her book came out in hardcover, it stayed at number one for two months and we were really surprised that she successed at it for a first story.”

“I’ll bet. Did she think of doing more books when she hit it?” Kylie asked.

“No, but her readers sent her fan mail to keep on writing and asked for series, but Virginia was never really crazy about series, but she liked doing standalone novels best,” Andrea told Kylie.

“Wow.”

“Yeah. How did your sister get comments on her stories?” Kylie asked.

“The publishing company she was with shared them on Amazon so she mostly gets comments there, but I don’t think she ever paid attention or read any of the reviews on her stories. We never really talked about that,” Andrea told her.

“Oh. Are her books on Kindle too or not?” Kylie asked.

“I’m not sure, but my guess would probably be yes. I really know nothing how this stuff works,” Andrea answered.

“Oh,” Kylie said again.

“Is this all you wanted to talk about for now?” Andrea asked.

“Yes. We’ll call you if we have anymore questions,” Kylie replied.

“Okay. Chat then,” Andrea told her and they disconnected.

After putting the phone back in the receiver, Kylie thought this telephone conversation she had just now was interesting, but it sounded like she and gang weren’t getting anywhere on this case. Her thought was: Should we quit or keep trying? Her father, Fred, would probably tell her not to give up. He never gave up working on a case such as this. She wondered what he would do if he were in her office with her right now, but she didn’t want to think negative on this, but would see what her friends wanted to do on this case, but the unpublished novel Frank found on the computer was their only clue. This one was a hard case, all right. She thought she’d put this case on hold for now.

Kylie sighed aloud and nobody was in her office with her to hear that sigh.

She got up to take a short break from her computer and walked out of her office. She found Patsy typing away on the computer. Kylie figured Patsy wanted to catch up on typing for that day. She saw as Patsy looked up and found her looking in her direction.

“Do you need anything, Kylie?” Patsy asked.

“No, I don’t, but thank you for asking, Patsy. I’m just giving a few minutes’ worth of stretching from the computer.”

“Understandable,” Patsy said.

“I’m not surprised people didn’t want to come see me,” Kylie said.

“I’m sure somebody would sooner or later,” Patsy told her.

“I think so too. I’m going outside for some fresh air,” Kylie replied.

“Okay.”

Patsy watched as her boss walked out of the office.


	9. Chapter 9

That night, Kylie and Danny went out for supper. They didn’t bother inviting Heather, Daphne and Claudia so they invited their friends instead. Only Jessica, Gloria and Frank were able to come along but Ryan declined, wanting to spend some time with Keith and Linda, and the gang accepted so they did Olive Garden without him.

As much as Ryan wanted to come along with his friends, he did know this as a fact that Olive Garden was pretty busy on Wednesday nights but he would be able to go another time is what he told his friends. Instead, Ryan took Keith and Linda out to the movies and they saw an early show that Disney came out with. They did seem to enjoy that. For Linda’s birthday that March, Ryan surprised her by getting the movie Frozen and she and Keith had seen it several times since then. It had been a while since the gang had been to the movies but didn’t find the right time to go to see a movie because of the cases they have been working on.

“Too bad Ryan couldn’t join us tonight,” Jessica said.

“I know,” Kylie agreed.

Their waiter, Harold, who was in his late forties with light brown hair and eyes took care of them that evening. After everyone had ordered drinks and their orders for that night, the gang changed the subject to something else.

“Has anybody had any luck on clues to Virginia’s unknown murder?” Kylie asked.

She watched as the gang shook their heads, telling her they didn’t find anything either.

“I’d like to see this case come to a close at some point, but somehow it looks like there’s nothing much we can do,” Kylie said.

“What would your dad do if he was working on this mystery?” Danny asked, even if he already knew what Fred would’ve done.

“He’d split everyone up to search for clues,” Kylie answered, imitating Fred, “let’s split up, gang.”

“Good thing your dad’s not here to hear you imitate him,” Gloria said as the gang broke into giggles.

Frank agreed.

“At least Dad would use his ‘zoinks’ as usual,” Frank said.

The gang knew Shaggy well enough since they had heard almost all of the stories on their parents’ past mysteries to know Shaggy’s line.

“I think we’re done for tonight on this case, but I’ll use Dad again when we split up,” Kylie said.

“Yeah, and you should invite your dad to hear you copy him,” Jessica said as the giggles died down.

“We can split up tomorrow for sure,” Danny agreed.

“I thought you were busy fixing sinks and toilets,” Jessica said to Danny.

“I’m not usually busy at this time of the week, but it gets that way when people go back to work on Monday morning,” Danny told Jessica.

“Oh. Claudia take over for now?” Gloria asked.

“I’m sure she could. She likes working for my tenants,” Danny said.

Ever since Claudia had learned how to do his job, tenants kept asking him and Kylie if Claudia would come back and they had liked her since then.

As the gang talked about their parents, Harold returned with their drinks and breadsticks. He told them their orders should be here soon. The gang thanked him as he poured more water for them. They drank a lot of water while they had this conversation.

“Did Ryan say anything about what his plans were with Linda and Keith?” Frank asked.

“He didn’t tell me anything what they were going to do,” Jessica said, “but I’m sure he’ll tell us.”

“Probably would. At least he’s a good father to those kids,” Gloria said.

“He’s trying, but I think he’s doing pretty well for now,” Jessica said.

“And you enjoy being their aunt,” Kylie replied.

“True. Ryan bought Frozen for Linda on her birthday,” Jessica said.

“Did they enjoy it?” Gloria asked.

“You better believe they did. They didn’t get a chance to see it when the movie was in the theatre.”

“Oh,” Danny said.

Five minutes later, Harold returned with their meals. Jessica, Frank and Danny ordered the eggplant and Kylie ordered something else. She liked spaghetti, so she ordered it that night. Sometimes the gang would try new dishes and see if they liked it or not. Danny didn’t care for seafood, but he’s had a few tastes of it before. Every time he would have fish he would gag.

That night was Kylie’s turn to pay for their meal. They usually took turns paying for their meals, so it was no big deal to them if somebody would pay for everything or split the check. After Kylie paid, everyone walked outside and where the Mystery Machine was parked. Kylie had the front seat, so she was the driver. She and Danny dropped their friends off and then headed for their apartment. It wasn’t that late yet, but both of them decided to watch some television before turning in for the night. They decided for a movie on television. They found Forrest Gump. They were up to the part when Lietuant Dan yelled at Forrest during the Vietnam war. That’s when they decided to go to bed. They’d seen this movie a number of times enough to know what was happening next. They both said good – night and kissed. Kylie was the first one to their bedroom. While she was in their bedroom, he was turning the lights off. Then when he finished that, he joined her in bed and then minutes later, they both were sound asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, Kylie told Patsy she could take today off, but Patsy refused and wanted to answer the phones. Patsy had been with Kylie for almost eight years now. Kylie had been in practice that long, so she thought Patsy was a perfect fit once she hired her. Kylie brought Patsy up – to – date on what was going on with the mystery.

“Wow, Kylie. I do understand you and your friends need to come up with ideas to solve this case,” Patsy told her.

“I know we do, but we haven’t found anything that would solve the writer’s murder,” Kylie told her.

“I’m sure you’ll come up with something,” Patsy reassured her.

“I know we will, but like the police told us, they had no new ideas to close the case. I guess that’s probably why they came to me and the gang for some help.”

“Looks that way,” Patsy agreed.

“Maybe we could go to the spot where the murder scene happened,” Kylie suggested.

“Do you know the area to where the murder happened?” Patsy asked.

“I think that’s where GPS comes in,” Kylie answered.

Kylie once again grabbed the file Andrea had given her to look over on her sister’s death. The file told Kylie that the murder took place near a Baptist church around Broadway and Fifth Avenue. 

“This happened in Utah, Patsy. I’m sure we would probably have to go out there for oursevles to see what evidence could pop up,” Kylie told her.

“Good luck with that one,” Patsy said.

Patsy watched as Kylie punched in Andrea’s cell phone. Both women listened to the phone ring until they received a voicemail.

“You have reached Andrea Webber. I am not in right now, but I’ll be happy to return your call as soon as possible.”

Then the beep sounded.

“Hi, Andrea. I’m Kylie Jones – Blake. I was calling to see if my friends and I can come to Salt Lake sometime and see if we can go to the area your sister’s murder began. Call me,” Kylie said and put the phone back.

“Do you think you’ll hear anything back?” Patsy asked.

“I’m sure I will, but I’ll give her all the time she needs,” Kylie answered back.

An hour or so passed. Both Kylie and Patsy heard the phone ring. Patsy was closest to the phone, so she picked it up. After listening to the caller, Patsy handed the mouthpiece to her boss.

“Thanks,” Kylie said and took the phone from Patsy.

Patsy decided to leave Kylie alone for the meantime so Kylie could have her conversation with Andrea confidential.

“Hello, Andrea,” Kylie said.

“Hi. I got your message a couple of minutes ago,” Andrea told her.

“I figured you’d get my message. I just came up with an idea,” Kylie said.

“What’s that?” Andrea asked.

“I was wondering if my friends and I could go out to Salt Lake City and visit the place where your sister’s murder occurred,” Kylie began.

“I don’t know. That area has been closed since Virginia’s murder, but I’ll see what I can do about letting you and your friends investigating the crime scene.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk this over with my friends and see what they thought of my suggestion,” Kylie replied.

“Okay. I’ll get back to you on that,” Andrea said.

She thought it made sense to talk to this over with Sheriff Jackson. He probably wouldn’t let them in on the murder scene, but there was no way Kylie and her friends could come up with new ideas to close the case up.

“Thanks, Andrea. I appreciate it. Either one of you could call me once the sheriff has made a decision.”

“We’ll do that. Thanks for telling me your latest idea,” she said and the two women got off.

“Let’s see what the gang thinks of the idea, but I’m sure they will agree,” Kylie said to herself as she put the phone back in its spot.


	11. Chapter 11

That night, Kylie ate with Danny and their daughters, Daphne and Claudia. Heather wasn’t able to eat with them that night, so it was a pretty small crowd of people eating the food that was on the table.

“Anything new on the case?” Daphne asked.

“Looks like we’re getting nowhere right now, sweetheart, but I hope to shut this case down at some point,” Kylie told her.

“What have you found out recently about the case?” Danny asked as he finished swallowing a bite of steak.

He felt some meat sticking in his mouth. He’ll take care of flossing it later.

Danny could see Claudia watching him.

“Do you need a toothpick, Daddy?” Claudia asked, offering to stand up to get him one.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Danny said.

There was no wonder that Claudia had noticed he had something stuck in his mouth. Probably noticed it, Danny thought quietly to himself. It didn’t really matter to him what people thought of his having food stuck in his teeth but they will notice for sure.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said as he took it from her.

“You’re welcome, Daddy,” Claudia replied.

“How much further do you think you and Daddy have to go until you solve this one?” Daphne asked their mother.

“I have no idea, sweetheart. We’ll just have to find that answer ourselves,” Kylie answered.

She meant what she said. The girls could tell that Kylie meant it when she said it while working on cases such as this.

“Think you’ll do this one in court?” Daphne asked.

“I don’t even want to think about it,” Kylie answered.

Again, she meant it this time. Nobody else said a word during the rest of the meal.


	12. Chapter 12

Later that afternoon, Andera was on her cell phone, talking with the sheriff.

“Sheriff, I have a question from Mystery Inc.,” Andrea told Sheriff Jackson.

“What’s the question?” Sheriff Jackson asked.

“They wanted to know if they could look in the area where Virginia was murdered,” Andrea told him.

“Not on a chance,” Sheriff Jackson told Andrea.

“All right. I’ll tell them,” Andrea replied.

After he said that, there was no more.

After that, the two officers hung up. Andrea knew this would disappoint Kylie and the gang for sure. So she hopped into the car and turned the ignition on and drove straight over to Kylie’s to tell her what Sheriff Jackson had just told her. Sure, the group would be disappointed about not being able to check out her sister’s murder.

It did, turn out that Kylie was in her firm, but Kylie’s friends were at their own jobs. She knew for sure that Kylie would pass this news on.

She found Patsy, Kylie’s secretary right at the desk.

“Hello, Officer,” Patsy greeted Andrea.

“Is Ms. Jones – Blake in?” she asked.

“She is. I’ll let her know you’re here,” Patsy told her.

Andrea wasn’t planning on staying very long. Patsy told Andrea Kylie would be happy to see her, and so Andrea thanked Patsy and entered the office.

“Hello, Kylie,” she greeted her.

“I have your answer from the sheriff,” Andrea told said.

“What did he tell you?” Kylie asked.

“He said not a chance,” Andrea told her.

“I’ll pass it on. Thank you for letting me know and I’ll pass it on,” Kylie said.

Andrea thanked her and left the office.


	13. Chapter 13

A few days later, Kylie and the gang ate lunch in her office as they usually did. None of them were big fans of eating out, but when they had a mystery to solve that included travel, they had no choice. They knew for sure they could have grocery shopped for food while working on a mystery, but they were too busy focusing on the case they never had time to even think about it.

“Have you heard anything from Officer Webber or the sheriff, Kylie?” Gloria asked.

“She came here. I guess she wanted to tell me this in person instead of calling by her cell phone,” Kylie said.

“What did she say?” Frank asked.

He had a water bottel with him that day. He took the top off and took a long gulp.

“She said the sheriff told her we can’t look around the area where Virginia was murdered,” Kylie said.

“Did she say why? We need to close this mystery at some point, and we need to start somewhere,” Jessica spoke up as the others nodded.

“She’s right,” Ryan said.

“She also said the area where her sister was murdered has been closed to the public when that first happened,” Kylie went on. 

“We can still go out there and take the Mystery Machine with us,” Danny said as he wiped his napkin across his face.

“That’s a good idea, Danny. I do have a plan,” Kylie said.

“You sound just like your father when you say that, Kylie,” Ryan told her.

“I know, Ryan, but he did tell me several stories about all the traps he’d set up when they got close to solving their mysteries,” Kylie said.

Her friends weren’t surprised about this, so it was no surprise she was the leader.

“What’s the plan this time?” Frank asked.

“I was thinking we could split up as usual. Like you said about taking the Mystery Machine, Danny, a couple of us could drive to Utah where the murder took place and the rest of us could stay here,” she said.

“I had that feeling you had thought up something like this,” Frank said.

He didn’t sound very surprised at all when he said that.


	14. Chapter 14

The gang logged on facebook to put a new update on Virginia’s murder. Ryan posted: Still slow – going mystery on the murder of Virginia Webber. If you have any ideas on helping us close this mystery a little faster, please leave a comment, e – mail, or private message. We appreciate your thoughts. That’s when he hit the POST button.

“Good way to share that post, Ryan,” Kylie told him.

“That’s what I told myself,” he replied.

That’s when the gang decided to log off the website. Like lots of people around the world had a Twitter account, but he and the gang didn’t bother having separate accounts.

Since Ryan just updated their latest status about Virginia’s murder, he let Frank update their Twitter account. They mostly posted the same tweet like they do with facebook. The gang liked to use facebook for sharing pictures and statues, but they decided not to share the pictures of their mysteries on Twitter itself.

That’s when the gang watched as Frank logged off the website. Like some people, the gang never stayed on social media very often, but would only use it for their mysteries, but that was about it. Danny looked over Frank’s shoulder while Frank did the typing. As Frank retweeted the latest update, Danny saw they had almost three hundred and fifty tweets, three thousand eighty – four followers, and no following other people. Somehow they just weren’t interested in following anybody. After the gang watched as Frank logged off, Jessica sighed.

“What is it, Jess?” Gloria asked.

“Nothing. So far we don’t have enough clues for me to make this as a story for my column. I’d hate to disappoint our fans,” Jessica answered.

“We’ll come up with something. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something soon,” Kylie told her.

“I sure hope you’re right, Kylie,” Jessica said.


	15. Chapter 15

After the gang left, Danny went back to the apartment to continue his job for the rest of the day. When he let himself through the unlocked apartment, he found Claudia holding his plunger in her left arm.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said.

When he said that, he watched his daughter jump a bit off the ground.

“Daddy, don’t scare me like that!” Claudia said once she finished jumping.

“Sorry, sweetheart. May I have my job back?” Danny asked.

“All right, Daddy. The rest is yours for the rest of the day.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said as he took the plunger from Claudia.

“Mind if I ask you something, Daddy?” 

“Go right ahead,” Danny answered, looking straight at her.

“My question is, the next time you do this, just knock on the door. I don’t like jumping like that.”

“Sorry, Claudia. I’ll remember that next time,” Danny told his daughter.

After he said that, he walked over to give her a hug.

“How is this mystery turning out?” Claudia asked after father and daughter finished their hug.

“It’s coming along very slowly. We are running out of ideas to solve this murder case.”

“Sorry to hear that, Daddy. If you want me to, I can still stay here and take the telephone messages down for you.”

“That will be a big help, Claudia. One of the clues we recently picked up was her unfinished novel.”

“Wow. Good luck with it,” Claudia told him.

“Thank you. Before I head on out, who was the tenant? I don’t want them to be kept waiting.”

“I understand, Daddy.”

When she finished talking, she gave her father the details. That’s when Danny left. He’d have to put this mystery aside for now so he could focus on his job for the rest of the day. ‘I sure hope the gang and I could solve this murder and put the guilty person to court and it will be in the slammer,' he thought to himself.


	16. Chapter 16

While finishing his tenants’ complaints, Danny had troube concentrating on his job. What was on his mind was Virginia’s unsolved murder. He and his friends had solved several murder cases, but this one was making it to have this mystery from being solved. When he finished fixing a toilet, he let Claudia take over.

“Why are you giving me your job, Daddy? Is there anything on your mind that wouldn’t let you pay any attention for today?” Claudia asked, looking straight in his direction, her eyes focusing on him.

“You read my mind, sweetheart. Actually there is something that is distracting me.”

“Spit it out,” Claudia told him.

“This mystery wouldn’t have me alone. This is why I asked you to take over.”

“I know how much you and your group of friends hate leaving this sort of murder unsolved, but I still happen to think you will still have a chance to solve this murder,” Claudia said positively.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said and gave his daughter a kiss on her forehead. After that, Claudia was out of the door.


	17. Chapter 17

Kylie had a thought about this entire murder case Andrea asked her and the gang to solve. It still didn't make sense to her on why a police officer would come to her and the gang to look into this sort of thing. Her thought was: why not see Andrea again for more questions? First she'd want do bring this up to her friends once they came to her office for lunch.

Then she went back on focusing her other clients' problems, until lunch arrived. She was still on the telephone with a client when Frank walked in. She put a finger on her lips, telling Frank she was busy. He understood, but he took a seat across from her anyway. On his way to Kylie's office, he thought some more on this latest murder mystery. He was like Kylie and his friends who still had no idea on how to solve this case, but of course there would be a way. That was always true.

Kylie put the telephone back where it belonged and faced Frank.

"Any other ideas to solve this mystery?" Frank asked her.

"No, but I just thought of something," she answered.

"What's that?" Frank asked.

"I think it's time for us to have another chat with Andrea."

"I guess you're right, Kylie. It's been awhile since our last conversation."

When he just finished saying that, the rest of their other friends came in. Then they took their seats when they finished greeting one another.

"Anything new on this mystery, Kylie?" Gloria wanted to know.

"Not yet, but I do have an idea."

"What's that?" Ryan asked.

She told them.

"Do you know about this, Frank?" Danny asked.

"We were talking about this just now, right?" he asked Kylie.

"Right."

"Did you make your telephone call to Andrea yet?" Jessica asked.

"Not yet, but I'll do it when we're finished and you guys cane know about it next time."

"Sounds good," Gloria replied.

They took their time eating, but since they all were having different schedules, and that was pretty understandable.


	18. Chapter 18

After Kylie made her call to Andrea, she sure hoped this conversation would have this case solved, even if she and the gang have no new ideas on the case to continue. Once she and Andrea scheduled for her to chat, Kylie called her friends to let them know she scheduled to talk more about the murder.

"All right, Kylie. We would be there," Jessica told her friend.

"I don't want you to miss out. Once the case is solved, you can publish it to your column."

"I plan to," Jessica said.

When she finished speaking, Kylie and Jessica ended their telephone conversation.

Kylie and Andrea scheduled a time for her to come in the following day. Just like Kylie and her friends, Andrea hoped to catch the person who murdered her twin. Andrea who scheduled to come to Kylie's office at noon. She knew Kylie and her friends usually ate lunch in Kylie's office.

Once she arrived at twelve sharp, all of Kylie's friends were already there.

"Good afternoon, Deputy. Would you like to join us?" Danny asked.

"Thank you for asking, Mr. Blake, but I already have plans with a friend. Maybe next time."

"Okay," Danny said, standing up to help Andrea to her seat. When he finished, she thanked him.

"So, what do you want to see me for?" Andrea asked.

"We wanted to know what it was like living with your sister when you both were children," Kylie told her.

"All right. I'll share, but it's a long story, but I do hope it will give you ideas to solve my sister's murder."

"Go ahead and tell us. When do you have to be at your lunch date?" Frank asked.

"Forty – five minutes. It'll give me plenty of time."

Then she began her story.

Flashback:

In the orphanage in Milwaukee, Andrea and her twin sister, Virginia, were starting to get ready for bed. They usually had a conversation while getting in their pajamas and take a bath and then brush their teeth.

"I wish we could find a home to live in," Virginia told her sister.

"So do I, but it feels like we've been here almost all of our lives," Andrea agreed.

"Maybe we will," Virginia said.

It turned out they were both correct. The two twins usually agreed on the same thing, but they had a hard time trying ti picture what they would do if they were adopted from different families, but they couldn't do that, but you know already that as a twin, it would be hard to be separated from one another. These two sisters wanted to be in the same family.

A couple of weeks later, a man who looked like Donny Osmond, came to the orphanage, already interested in adopting a child or two. It was a fact that if you happen to be a Mormon, the families are big.

The twins had no clue as to know they didn't know who Donny Osmond is. Even the last name wasn't familiar to the sisters. As it turned out, it was Donny Osmond. The lady who was in charge was with him, showing the options he was interested in. He met several of the orphans, but not every one of them. Donny was interested in both of the sisters. Then he ended up taking Andrea and Virginia home with him.

End Flashback

"So, this is all I can share with you all for now. My time is already up. I can share the rest with you some other time," she said, standing up.

"I'll let you know when the time is good."

Once she left the office, Ryan asked, "What do you think of that story, Kylie?"

"It's an interesting start, Ryan, but I think her story could be enough for us to do a bit of research."

"Why didn't I think about that?" Gloria asked.

None of her friends gave her any answers.


	19. Chapter 19

That night, Gloria used her car phone to do more research on Virginia's murder. She thought by doing this, the case could end up being solved. She was in her own house without her friends wanting to hear what she'd found. 'Maybe I'll just post it on Twitter and facebook and they could see for themselves,' Gloria thought silently to herself. This had happened before on working to solve the murders.

She punched in Virginia Webber and had several results. At least researching now would go quicker this way. She had paper and pen, and she was all set. She went to one website to see if it mentioned her at all. It didn't. She didn't sound very happy about that website, so she decided to see what the other links had to say. She did find out that had a ton of information. So that's when her pen went to work. Here's what she found:

Romance writer, Virginia Webber was murdered in her car on her way home from doing some errands. When she locked her car door without her noticing, there was a person behind her. That person who shot her was never identified to know what sex the murderer was. This murder case is still an ongoing investigation. All the sheriff's office know for right now is the murderer left behind the gun as a clue. The clue was lying beside Virginia's vehicle.

The gun is now in good hands of the police. Ms. Webber's other sibling is a twin sister who is on the police force. For more questions, call Deputy Sheriff Andrea Webber for more background information. Gloria jotted all of that on her pad of paper.

"That is a real clue. I'm not going to say a word about this clue to the gang. I'll let them figure it out for themselves."

At last this was enough information for one night.

Gloria tried falling asleep that night, so all she did was toss and turn. The information she'd found earlier still was telling her to keep researching. So she flipped her light on and once again grabbed her phone and once again and pen were ready. Once again, her pen and paper were ready. She was still wanting to see what else she'd find. She did really saw a ton of information where she last put the paper and pen ending that evening. Tired as she was, she found more info that was very helpful. Again she did put her pen, paper, and phone away since she was too tired to continue her search. 'Maybe I'll be able to concentrate tomorrow,' she thought to herself.


	20. Chapter 20

The next day, Gloria met the gang at Kylie's law firm since it was now time for lunch.

"Has anybody found any clues to this mystery?" Kylie asked.

"I found one for sure," Gloria said.

"You did? What's the clue this time?" Frank asked, already interested.

Like the rest of his friends, he really wanted to know.

"I'll let you guys figure it out for yourselves," was the only answer Gloria gave them.

"Come on, Gloria. This clue of yours could really help us solve this mystery. I've been getting e – mails from my readers that they can't wait any longer for me to publish," Jessica said.

"Even my clients and co – workers have been asking me the same thing," Ryan said.

He happened to agree with Jessica.

"I also want this mystery shut down myself," Kylie agreed.

"Just tell us what you found, and then we'll be satisfied," Danny said.

This was the first time he'd spoken since his arrival to the law firm.

"All right, I'll share, but I haven't shared it to facebook yet," Gloria told her friends.

"As you all know, I happen to have wireless on my cell phone. I did a bit of research on our victim last night. Clue: I hit the jackpot and found an article. It gave out the clue, which happened to be a gun. Like your mother would say, Jess and Ryan, 'Jinkies!'" Gloria said, giving out Velma's word when she found a clue.

"Yeah, and Dad would say 'Zoinks!'" Frank said, quoting their father, Shaggy.

"True," Gloria agreed.

"Nice work, Gloria. At least you found something none of us thought about," Kylie told her.

"That's what I figured, Kylie. I sure hope I can do a bit more research and see what else I can find that will shut this mystery for good," Gloria told them.

"We wish you lots of luck, Gloria," Frank told his sister.

"Thanks, bro," Gloria returned.


	21. Chapter 21

Later that afternoon, Gloria sat on the living room sofa. The television jabbered away and she never paid any attention to the channel she'd had on. Once again, she punched in Virginia's name, and came up with the same results that she had the night before. She hoped she could get some more clues besides the gun.

She clicked on a link and see if that website could tell her something. There was no need to keep her fingers crossed. She decided to look over the article that she thought that would've been helpful to this murder. Here's what she found:

"Virginia Webber, a famous romance writer, was murdered, but the sheriff's office has announced this is an ongoing investigation. Even her sister, Deputy Sheriff Andrea Webber, couldn't think of anyone who would do such a thing. Question is why would someone want to kill a published writer? To know more information about Virginia, please contact Deputy Webber at this number. Gloria left that website, sighing.

"I think I'll just do it that way," Gloria told herself.

She was happy that her cell phone was lying by the laptop. So she reached for it and called Andrea right away. Five minutes later, she heard Andrea pick up.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, Andrea. This is Gloria Rogers from Mystery Inc."

"Hello, Gloria. I wasn't expecting to hear from you," Andrea told her.

"I kinda figured that. I was calling because I thought you could share anything that would help me and my friends solve this murder about you two growing up."

"Thank you for reminding me, Gloria. I never got around to that yet, have I?"

"No, you haven't."

"Would you want to do this over the telephone or in your friend's law firm?" Andrea asked her.

"How about the telephone? I want to have a chance to solving this mystery before my friends," Gloria answered.

"I understand. Where do you want me to start?"

"Maybe at the beginning. That would be a big help."

So that's when Andrea began the story.

"Virginia and I never really knew our parents. Our parents died shortly after we were born. After they passed away, Virginia and I were sent to an orphanage in Milwaukee. We didn't get adopted until we were seven. We were adopted into this musical family known as the Osmonds.

"They are friendly, but once we joined the family, we had to go to church. We were adopted as Mormon, but my sister and I really never care about religion. When we turned eight years old, we were baptized. Since our first Sunday service after we were adopted, Virginia and I were given our own copy of the Book of Mormon, which was written by the founder of the Latter – Day Saints Church, Joseph Smith.

"Both of us really didn't pay much attention to what the Bishop was talking about each week. Once we were old enough to live on our own, I went to police academy and she ended up finding an agent and publisher. The Osmond family weren't liking the fact I decided to have a career that involved violence. Sometimes you just don't have a choice.

"My entire life with the Osmond family, I had always wanted a career in the police department. My dream did end up coming true. I did watch a lot of the Andy Griffith Show. That's why I dreamed of becoming a cop.

"When I'd been on the Utah police force, my family was still keeping into changing my mind of changing careers. Uncle Alan did keep telling me that he and the rest of the family don't want me to end up dying like Joseph Smith did. I proved them wrong, all right. I always kept reassuring my family that I won't be dying anytime soon since I was still too young to pass away and go to Heaven. Sometimes you don't have a choice. I did already mention earlier about choice, so I ended up living, and that was all.

"Several years later, Virginia's murder happened and since her death on the first day my department heard about it, the case is still ongoing. My department agreed when a murder case like this one continues to stay unsolved, we don't want to give up. One of my last days attending the Mormon church, that's what a service the Bishop wanted to share with us. Virginia stopped attending the services and once her publisher accepted her latest novel, she left at the right time and I was still going. I wanted to stop with her, but plans didn't work that way.

"Unlike the Osmond family who made their careers popular in the seventies, Virginia and I didn't have the musical talent to keep the generations for the future. Still, Virginia had made it at the top of the Bestseller list up to number one, and the family were proud of her writing.

"Ever since we were fifteen years old and had just entered high school as freshmen, Virginia came up with several ideas. She never expected to be creative by writing fictional stories, and it wasn't something she wanted to do for a career. Like the spiritual saying goes, it's a gift God had given you."

"That's quite a story you told me, Andrea. Do you remember the name of the orphanage you and Virginia lived in?" Gloria asked.

"No, I don't, and if I were you, I wouldn't bug the people who work there for questions. The original managers probably aren't living any longer," Andrea said to Gloria.

This entire time Gloria listed to Andrea about her childhood life, Gloria already had a pen and some paper. She always came prepared to notes if necessary, and that's what she was doing this whole time.

"I think you've shared enough of your story, Deputy. I'll let you know if my friends and I have more questions to ask you."

"All right, Gloria. I enjoyed sharing my past with you. And you know where to find me if you want to ask more about Virginia."

"I plan to do that, Deputy," Gloria said and that's when she put the phone back in its place. She looked her notes over. She saw that there was enough information to share with their fans to facebook and this time she'll let her friends look at the update on their own. She sighed, happy to know she'd gotten around to this before Kylie would ask about it.


	22. Chapter 22

In the next day or so, Gloria arrived at Kylie's law firm. Today she was the first one to walk into the office.

"Hi, Gloria. Won't you take a seat?" Kylie asked her friend.

Gloria did so and took a seat facing Kylie.

"I saw that post on facebook, Gloria. Were you the one who made that post?" Kylie asked.

Kylie watched Gloria nod her head.

"It was me, Kylie. I did some fast thinking since we were hardly getting to the end. I think I know who murdered Virginia."

"Who?" Kylie asked.

"I won't want to ruin it for you but I would rather wait until the others come and join us."

"You have a point, Gloria. I won't be able to set a schedule for a date until you tell me and we'll ask these questions in court."

"Okay. I can wait for a little bit longer."

"Good girl, Gloria," Kylie told her.

The two women burst into giggles as they watched Frank and Danny walk in.

"Hello, ladies. What are you laughing about?" Frank asked as he helped Danny set down.

"Thank you, Frank," Danny told his friend.

"No problem," Frank said in return.

"It was just a girl joke. You fellas won't want to hear it," Kylie answered.

"Sorry if I asked."

"That's okay, bro," Gloria told him.

"Anytime, sis."

That's when the door opened and they watched as Ryan opened to let Jessica in.

"Thank you, Ryan."

"You're welcome."

Ryan had always been the quiet one of the gang, so the only time he talked, it was mostly solving mysteries and asking questions that needed to be answered.

"Who made that facebook post?" Frank asked, looking at all of his friends.

"I did," Gloria answered, and then added, "it's already retweeted."

"That was fast thinking, Gloria," Ryan said.

"I know."

Before the rest of you came in, Gloria was telling me it's time to set up a court date," Kylie said.

"Is that why the post we saw?" Jessica asked.

Gloria nodded her head a second time.

"Why don't you share with us, Sis?" Frank asked.

"I think it was Andrea herself."

"Is there some sort of connection between the twin sisters?" Danny asked.

He still didn't get it.

"Just set up the date and you'll all see why I wanted to share it with the judge and jury."

"All right, if that's what you want," Kylie said as she picked up the receiver and dialed a telephone number.

The gang was silent this entire time their leader was speaking. Then a minute or two later, Kylie slammed the receiver. The gang were silent this entire time their leader was speaking. Then a minute or two later, Kylie slammed the receiver.

"When is the court date?" Gloria asked Kylie.

"In the next day or so. We'll have to ask everyone to come," Kylie said.

Danny nodded. He was agreeing with what Kylie just said. Kylie had been a lawyer ever since she and Danny started dating.

"Aren't you going to call up Andrea and tell her about the court date?" Gloria asked.

Frank looked in Gloria's face and said, "Of course Kylie is going to telephone her, Sis. If Kylie never made the call to Andrea and we will be sitting in the courtroom listening to the lawyers ask their questions."

"Duh," Jessica told Gloria.

"Sorry, gang. I guess I wasn't paying attention," Gloria said.

"That happens, Gloria. It happens to everyone," Ryan told her.

"Gloria, I will make that call to Andrea after you guys leave. I know for sure Andrea will show up to answer questions from us lawyers," Kylie told Gloria.

Gloria looked at the wall clock.

"I guess I should be heading out. I'll see you all next time," Gloria said and gave out a stretch.

"I guess I should be leaving too. I have a meeting in forty – five minutes," Ryan said.

"And I need to get back to fixing toilets and sinks," Danny agreed.

Everyone but Kylie left.

Kylie let out a sigh once Frank slammed the door. She needed to get up from her desk chair. She thought Gloria had a good idea, so she did a few stretches before sitting down again. She ended up taking a short break before taking her seat and make the call to Andrea and tell her there would be a court date coming up.

Before Kylie could sit down again, she heard a knock at the door. So she went to answer it. This time it was her secretary, Patsy.

"Hi, Patsy. Why don't you come on in?" Kylie said, inviting Patsy.

"Thank you, Kylie. I'm fine for now. You have a call from Andrea while your friends were here."

"The gang and I were just talking about her. I was going to call her anyway," Kylie said as she took the message out of Patsy's hand.

"I'll come in again later, Kylie," Patsy told her.

Kylie didn't say anything.

She read what Patsy had written on a sticky note. Once again she was on the telephone for most of that afternoon. Andrea was the first call she'd made. She listened to Andrea's cell phone ring for a few times before Andrea took the call."

"Hello, Andrea. This is Kylie Jones – Blake. My secretary took your call," Kylie said.

"I was just calling to see if I could talk to you for a few minutes. Sure, go right ahead. What is it you would like to talk to me about?" Kylie asked.

"I saw the latest facebook post you have on your fan page. Could you have that person who shared my telephone conversation with Gloria? I know you and your friends have a job to do, but I want that post off."

"Why do you want that post deleted? We always post the latest clue post on our fan page, and you're the very first person to ask us this sort of question," Kylie told her.

"I think it doesn't make any sense to put that latest information I share with you without permission. This is why I'm calling to complain."

"I'm very sorry, Andrea. I'm afraid we can't do that sort of thing. It'll have to be there forever," Kylie told her.

"Next time I share something with you, I'm afraid I will have to give you my permission if I want it as a post."

"Oh. Andrea, I was going to call you anyway. Gloria thinks she figured out who killed your sister and there will be a court date in a day or two."

"Thanks for telling me, Kylie. See you then."

This time she didn't bother to say good - bye.


	23. Chapter 23

The day of the court session finally arrived. Kylie was told from the judge the time was scheduled at two – fifteen. He mentioned to Kylie over the telephone the morning was booked with a different case. Kylie said that time did fit her schedule. She arrived right on time. Even her friends were there to find out if Gloria's thought turned out to be correct and didn't want to miss out on all the fun.

The district attorney was the first to ask questions. Today the district attorney, whose name was Craig Anderson, looked to be younger than Kylie. He was about mid – twenties to early forties, the gang guessed. Craig was very professional by wearing a tie and suit while Kylie herself was wearing a dress.

When Kylie and Andrew were growing up, they both enjoyed hearing about the past years their parents did on solving mysteries. This was her dream to be a lawyer and the dream came true. Her younger brother, Andrew got his dream come true by becoming a deputy sheriff and he enjoyed until his murder. Kylie could see why the Osmonds didn't want her to end her life.

It was now her turn to ask questions. She didn't bother crossing her fingers to see if Gloria's theory turned out to be correct.

"Andrea, would you like to tell us where you were when your sister was murdered?" Kylie asked.

"Be happy to, Ms. Jones – Blake. I was out doing patrol. When I finished parking the sheriff's car in its usual place, I heard from Sheriff Jackson there was a call that just came in and is involved murder."

"Did Sheriff Jackson tell you it was Virginia was the one ended up ending her life?" Kylie asked.

"Not right away. I was busy having a good day at work that he didn't want to ruin my day. He decided to wait an extra day or so to let me know she died."

"Which one of you was born first? You or Virginia?" Kylie asked.

"I don't know. Our parents weren't long gone for a short period of time enough to tell us. A week after we were born, we started out living with foster parents."

When Andrea answered this question Kylie just asked, Gloria whispered to her friends, "See how she's lying?"

The rest of her friends said nothing, so all they could do was nod their heads, telling her the lying part was correct.

"What made you think about graduating from police academy?" Kylie asked.

After she agreed with the jury for today's session, Kylie did a little bit of research on Andrea's education with the police academy.

"I don't know what to think about on that one. I was having fun having to learn at that certain type of career."

"I did some research about your education with the police academy you attended. Is it true that you dropped out after two years?" Kylie asked.

"That is not true! You need glasses to read it better. If I were you, I wouldn't put my nose in someone's schooling."

Everyone in the courtroom gasped. They could tell Andrea was lying through her teeth.

"After you dropped out from police academy, you were about to find work after Sheriff Jackson hired you. Since then you had been planning on a way to let your sister publishing her seventy – ninth novel to the public.'

"That makes no sense at all! I always let my sister in private. I supported her since she published her first novel. Why would I do such a thing like that?"

"That's something we want to know," Kylie told her.

Andrea didn't say another word for a while, so she let Kylie continue with her questions.

"Here's another question I'd like to ask," Kylie said.

"What is it?" Andrea said.

"If you were out on patrol the day she was murdered, why was a gun parked in your sister's driveway?" Kylie asked.

"I have no idea how to answer your question," Andrea replied

"We did find some evidence," Kylie told her.

Sheriff Jackson also was at the courtroom. He'd been contacted by Kylie so he could hear what Andrea's answers were. From what Kylie just asked, he did remember finding the murder weapon by Virginia's car.

"Sheriff Jackson, would you mind stepping up for a few minutes?" Kylie asked.

So he walked up from his seat.

"Yes, Ms. Jones – Blake?"

"Do you recall finding this gun on the victim's driveway nearby her vehicle?"

He studied the gun for a few minutes and then replied, "Yes, that gun does look familiar."

"Have you found out whose fingerprints that left the gun on the ground?"

"Yes, we did," Sheriff Jackson answered.

"Who left the gun?" Kylie asked him.

"It was Andrea's gun," he said truthfully.

Everyone who was listening to his answer, gasped out loud.

"Is this really your gun?" Kylie asked.

Andrea took a look at it and said, "Yes, it is."

"Why was your gun on Virginia's driveway if you were on patrol?" Kylie asked.

Andrea shrugged. She didn't know how to find the words to that question.

"If it's your gun, I would like to announce this mystery solved. Why would you want to murder your own sister?" Kylie asked.

"I'll tell you why! My sister was popular when we were in school and had the most attention when her books reached the Bestseller list. That's why I did that!"

The judge seemed to agree with Kylie the case was now at an end.

"You are right, Ms. Jones – Blake. Sheriff, do your duty and lock her up," the judge said.

So Sheriff Jackson took out his set of handcuffs and said, "Your career is finished, Deputy. You should be ashamed of yourself."

When he said that, the judge said, "Court is now adjourned."

Kylie took a short walk to where her friends were sitting.

"I told you I was right," Gloria said.

"We wouldn't have thought of your idea to ask about her childhood. It's time to celebrate for another case solved," Kylie said.

Everyone agreed and they all left together.


End file.
